A Father's Son
by Titania Le Fey
Summary: An Alternate story line for Snake Plissken occurring between NY and LA
1. Bitter Reunion

NOTES: This is another possible canon time line for him based on a line in the novel. That line being "We're gonna fix you do that there won't be no more little snakes slithering around." I've always taken it as a possible Plissken child about and so have decided to play with that idea. This story takes place approximately 6 or so months before Escape from LA. More to come I promise. So without further ado, part 1

Snake was still lying on the floor when he heard the door open again. Slowly he pulled himself up to a sitting position ignoring the pain from the beating a few minutes earlier.

"Why did you abandon us?"

Snake's eye rolled instinctively. It was always the same bullshit about him abandoning the military. He had heard that enough to make him ill. His eye turned up and he squinted at the officer standing there through his swollen, good eye. He looked the same as all the rest yet there was something hard and cold in his expression. Snake focused on the name badge and almost heaved. "Plissken" it said on it.

"Who the hell are you?" The words were out before he even thought about them.

"Captain Alexander Plissken of the United States Police Force."

Snake gagged this time. He couldn't help it. Hearing his family name attached to the blackbellies was like a disease. Plissken didn't let it phase his defiance as he pulled himself to his feet. Maybe it was some tactic of theirs to get at him a way they hadn't yet. He stared into the pair of blue eyes. There was no denying how much this young captain looked like he had so long ago, only his skin and hair were a shade darker, a shade closer to who his mother should be.

"Why did you abandon us?" He asked again.

Snake pushed all the emotions away. "Don't you know?"

Snake wasn't going to fall into any trap. There was still a chance that this was all a sick trick they were playing on him. Even so the reality was seeping in. His voice was familiar, the look in his eyes, the way he stood there like he owned the world, it was all so much like what Snake knew of himself.

"Why don't you tell me?"

The ball came back to his court and Plissken met the young man's eyes with his. "Are you happy where you are?"

"Yes. Why does that matter?" Alexander seemed just as annoyed with him as any other blackbelly. It was enough to bring a bile taste into Plissken's mouth.

"You must be glad to be alive." Snake shifted uncomfortably. "You'd be dead otherwise."

The hardness drained out of his son with those words. There was no denying they were the truth. "I'm surprised they let you live."

Snake was being cruel perhaps but there wasn't much of this reality that wasn't. He couldn't even guess what was going through his son's mind. Maybe nothing. After all father and son had never met.

"They wanted me to catch you." The boy finally answered.

Plissken's biting cynicism took hold. "Congratulations." Snake turned his back on his son and hobbled to the lone chair in the room and took a seat. He stared at the boy watching the turmoil in his expression. Snake wondered what kind of hell they put him through all these years.

"Don't pretend you care about anyone, Snake."

Plissken tilted his head. Those words cut deep though nothing changed in Plissken's expression. "Is that what they told you?"

"You left us to die." The accusation in those words was unmistakable. "No matter what she believed I know you never cared. She was just another toy for you."

His cheek twitched as fire boiled up inside. Those words were like hot knives in his chest. Snake pulled himself up and fumbled with his cuffed hands to reach into the hidden pocked of his gun belt. From it he produced a picture of a young woman cradling a baby in her arms.

"Must explain why I got this, huh?" Snake was dealing back that pain and anger that had come his way. Alexander turned away to hid the crack Plissken already saw in his façade. The picture was back in its hiding place by the time his son faced him again. There was a distinct uncertainty in the boy's eyes as he stepped forward.

Alexander grabbed his father's collar and Plissken bristled waiting for a blow to come. It didn't and he soon realized it was a bluff.

"I have to get you out of here." The boy whispered.

"Don't you dare." Snake replied in a growl.

"I won't let them send you to LA." The flurry of emotions in the boy's mind seemed to come with those words.

Snake shook his head. "I'll be fine." Plissken pulled free of the grip on his jacket collar. "Not like you bastards can keep me here long."

Snake was playing along with a game. He didn't want whoever was watching to get the wrong impression. Alexander was back in front of him again.

"I won't let you die here."

"I sacrificed everything so you'd live. Don't you make that bullshit." Snake was determined. He'd given up the one thing he wanted to keep his child safe. He wouldn't let that be for nothing. Snake backed away and turned to face the wall. He didn't want to and couldn't deal with this. The memories were coming back hard. There were nights he'd spent with his hand on her stomach feeling the kicks of a boy he knew he'd never see. She had understood what sacrifice he made and why. Snake hoped their son would too.

Footsteps receded toward the door and Snake sighed. "When you see her again… tell her I miss her."

Snake nearly choked on those words. He couldn't deny all those things he'd missed and forced himself to forget.

"Mom's sick but I'll tell her."

Snake turned slowly to look at the officer, his son standing at the door. "Where?"

Alexander shook his head and Snake understood all too well. "You'll find out."

Snake watched him disappear through the door. The walls seemed to close in around him. This was wrong, everything here was so wrong. For the first time Snake felt like he was staring down something he couldn't face.


	2. Sprung Free

A day had passed in that cell thinking about her and all the things that could have been if he was someone else. He couldn't get his mind off his boy. He wondered what his first word was and where he took his first steps. The USPF had always killed people to destroy him. Now it seemed letting them live had the same effect. The night wore on and Snake was glad when they came to sedate him.

For once he didn't fight them when they came in. He stared blankly from the numb cold he couldn't shake. The needle still bothered him but he didn't flinch or back away. He wanted the silence of sedation no matter where he woke up, if he woke up.

The long deep sleep had come and gone when Plissken discovered the jostling feeling he was all too familiar with. He brought himself up to sit on the edge of the metal bench. Instinctively he rubbed his eye to rid himself of the queasy exhaustion sedation left behind. There was an odd sensation as he fully woke up. Something was off for being in the back of a truck.

Plissken stared at his wrists. There were no cuffs. His mind took some time to comprehend how that had happened. Worry boiled up in Snake's mind but there was no sense in wasting the chance his son no doubt gave him. Clarity came finally and one more realization. His guns were in his holsters. That certainly made the day a while lot better.

Holding the walls Snake stood and made his way to the back doors. It took jimmying and the removal of a few screws to open the door. He was blinded by the sun but could see enough to know they weren't going all that fast. Still it was more than likely too fast to jump from the back without a high risk of injury. His eye was adjusting slowly but he could see trees along the road, not houses.

There was no way to tell how many blackbellies were up front or if there were other trucks. Though he doubted they would put his last in a convoy. Even with that knowledge he was still uneasy. What had to be done, had to be done. Snake shoved the door wide and it banged against the outside of the truck before coming back around. A second push and slam then the truck began to slow. Snake poised himself watching the yellow line passing slower and slower beside the truck.

The moment he could he jumped from the truck and took off. He didn't look back or stop. He knew that would be death, especially when the bullets started flying. Plissken pushed his body to the very limits as he careened through the woods. He didn't know how long he'd run when he came to the highway. It didn't matter because he was free. Plissken slumped down in the shrubs to catch his breath. The sweat streaming down his face didn't do anything against the chill.

Now that he could see the sky the sun was in the afternoon position, five or so. Snake shoved his hands in his coat pockets to warm up until he could get up again. Plissken's hand hit paper and he slowly drew it out.

"Where the hell?" Snake gasped the words and wiped his eye before unfolding it. What he saw was a map of Nevada. Snake held it up and studied it. There had to be a reason for it being there in his pocket. Plissken relaxed as he perused it carefully front and back. His son had to have put it there for a reason.


End file.
